Mysterious Eighteenth Century Swedish Settlements at Tobago and Barima

MYSTERIOUS EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS AT TOBAGO
AND BARIMA
EDGAR ANDERSON
In recent years the small, but very fertile and incredibly
beautiful West Indian island—Tobago—has been in the
limelight as a point of attraction for tourists, movie makers
and historians.1 In the summer of 1960 an international ex­pedition,
sponsored by the Government of Trinidad and
Tobago and headed by the author of this article, attempted
to take an inventory of historic and prehistoric sites, sur­viving
historical relics and preserved historical records. It
was not an easy undertaking because the Island of To­bago
has changed hands more often than any other West
Indian island. After the Indian tribes—Ciboneys, Arawaks
and Caribs—replaced each other on the island, it has been
ruled successively and sometimes simultaneously by the
Spaniards, the Dutch, the Couronians (from Latvia), the
English, the French, and finally the West Indians themselves.
The records indicate that even the Brandenburgers or Prus­sians
and the Swedes had been interested in this island
and made plans for its colonization.
One of the reasons for this unusual interest in Tobago
was the advantageous geographical location of the island
in the Atlantic ocean and its proximity to the mainland of
South America. Its climatic conditions are better than
those of any other Caribbean island. It is more fertile and
it has also served as an excellent base for sailors and trad­ers.
The total area of Tobago and its neighboring islets com­prises
approximately 116 square miles. The island is about
1 Among recent popular descriptions of the island are: Crusoe's Island in the
Caribbean by Heath Bowman and Jefferson Bowman, New York, The Bobbs-
Merrill Co., 1939; Behold the West Indies by Amy Oakley, New York, D.
Appleton-Century Co., Inc., 1941 (Chapter XIV, "Tobago," pp. 409-426);
The French in the West Indies by W. Adolphe Roberts, New York, The
Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1942 (Chapter XI, "Battledore and Shuttlecock," pp.
117-125).
131
twenty-seven and a half miles long and seven and a half
miles wide at its greatest breadth. Most of the island is
hilly. The mountains in the northern part rise to a height
of 1950 feet. The central part of Tobago is undulating with
small valleys and conical hills, but the southern part is a
flat coral formation. Most of the island is covered with
dense forests. The soil is fertile and easily cultivated. The
chief p r o d u c t s are coconut, copra, coffee, cocoa, citrus
fruits, lumber, dyes, and also rum, sugar, cotton, and to­bacco.
In the past Tobago was famous for its indigo and
attempts were even made to produce rubber. The island
is also out of the usual range of hurricanes.
For a number of years Tobago was ruled by the rich
and vigorous Dukes of Courland, who ruled not only the
western part of Latvia, but also settlements in West Afri­ca
(Gambia), and iron mining areas and an ocean station
in Norway (Eidsvold, Kongsberg, Fleker). Besides To­bago
they also claimed several other West Indian islands,
and were engaged in trade relations even with such far­away
places as Brazil.2
Because of the proximity of Courland to Sweden and
the high standard of Swedish seamanship a considerable
number of Swedish sailors and soldiers were employed by
the Dukes of Courland, evidence of which is preserved in
Couronian ship log-books and payroll sheets. There are
also records that some of these Swedish sailors and sol­diers
were sent to the Couronian colony of Tobago. It is
known that a number of Swedes were on board Das W a p ­p
e n der Herzogin von Kurland, commanded by a Dutch
captain, Willem Mollens, Jr., who planted the first regular
Couronian colony in the West Indies on May 20, 1654.8
8 Edgar Anderson, "The Couronians and the West Indies—the First Settle­ment,"
Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4 (June 1959) 264-5; Walter Eckert,
Kurland unter dem Einfluss des Merkantilismus, Riga: Verlag G. Löffler,
1927, 137; Jekabs Juskevics, Hercoga Jekaba laikmets Kurzeme, Riga:
Valstspapiru spiestuves izdevums, 1931, 164-82, 265, 586, 637; Otto Heinz
Mattiesen, Die Kolonial- und U b e r s e e p o l i t i k der kurländischen Herzöge im
17. und 18. Jhd., Berlin & Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1940, 28, 37.
* Edgar Anderson, "The Couronians and the West Indies," Doctoral Disserta­tion,
University of Chicago, 1956, 108; Mattiesen, 242-3, 246-7, 251-2, 381,
443, 465.
132
The crew of the second Couronian ship, the Constantia,
dispatched to Tobago in 1655, also contained some Swed­ish
sailors.4 Many other Couronian ships had Swedish sail­ors
and soldiers on board. The Couronian captain, Hans
Jurgens Waltmann, of the ill-fated expedition of D e r I s s ­landfahrer,
had hired some forty soldiers at Gotland in the
winter of 1668 for a trip to Tobago. The names of many
sailors on this ship indicate Scandinavian origin.5
In the 1680's the Couronians of Tobago maintained close
and friendly relations with the Danish West Indies where
they had found refuge in times of peril. The Danes were
often chosen by the Dukes of Courland to occupy high ad­ministrative
positions in their colonial administration.8
The hard-pressed Couronians were unable to maintain
their colonial possessions, however, and were forced to
abandon Tobago in 1690 although some of the Couronian
settlers remained on the island for a few more years. This
did not mean, however, that they were surrendering their
claims to the island. In the meantime several more pre­tenders
to Tobago had tried their luck in settling the is­land,
more or less unsuccessfully, and contested the titles
of one another.7
Being unable to agree among themselves, they left the
island unoccupied except for a few individual settlers who
did not care about national jurisdiction of any country. For
a while the island even became a place of refuge for the
buccaneers and filibusters of the Caribbean area. The fam­ous
English writer Daniel Defoe used Tobago in 1718 as a
prototype for the island on which he settled his castaway
character Robinson Crusoe. Those who know the island
4 Anderson, Couronians and the West Indies, 123-4; Duke of Courland, Print­ing
Office, Briefve deduction par laquelle il est clairement monstré que
I'isle de Tabago sise en l ' A m e r i q e appartient à Monseigneur le Duc de
Courlande . . ., Mittav: Michel Karnall, 1668, par. 7.
" Briefve deduction, 15-6; Mattiesen, 615-22; August Seraphim, "Misslungene
Seefahrten nach Westindien," Baltische Monatshefte, XXXVII, No. 4 (1890),
615-22.
* Anderson, Couronians and the West Indies, 286, 322-3; Juskevics, 160-1, and
passim.
7 Anderson, Couronians and the West Indies, 319-22.
133
and read Defoe's book carefully are in agreement with this
theory.8
In 1730, Tobago was still a no-man's land. On Novem­ber
26 of that year the British Council of Trade and Plan­tations
reported to the Secretary of State, Duke of New­castle,
that the French Keeper of the Seals (Monsieur le
Garde des Sceaux) had informed the British representa­tive
Lord Waldgrave that the French Government had
Map showing location of the island of Tobago
and its proximity to t h e island of Trinidad
and the coast of Venezuela and British Guiana
agreed to the mutual evacuation of the West Indian islands
of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica, but had also in­sisted
on equal evacuation of Santa Cruz and had express­ly
forbidden the British subjects to settle on the island of
Tobago. The French had also demanded that the British
should re-examine their claim to this island. Notwith­standing
the fact that the British had not settled Tobago
the French demands were unacceptable to them.9
8 Evan M. Wylie, "Is This Robinson Crusoe's Island?" The Saturday Evening
Post, Vol. 224, No. 51 (June 21, 1952) 32, 106-7, 109, 111.
9 Trinidad and Tobago, Historical • Society of Trinidad and Tobago, Publica­tions
Nos. 1-1000 (further cited as T.T.H.S.), edited by Gertrude Carmichael,
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: Historical Society of Trinidad and Tobago, (n.d.)
No. 785, quoting Great Britain, Public .Record Office, State Pavers, Colonial
Series (further cited as P.R.O., C O . ) CO. 152/40.
134
The anonymous author of the pamphlet The Importance
of the British Plantations in A m e r i c a t o this K i n g d o m , &
etc,. Considered wrote in 1731 as follows: "If the island of
Tobago justly belongs to the Kingdom (as he is informed
it does), it is surprising it hath not been settled by us;
since, though not quite so large as Barbadoes, it is superior
to it for good roads, convenient rivers, and richness of soil."
Great Britain and France continued their quarrels re­garding
their titles to the island, while the Duke of Cour­land
still insisted on his rights to it. There was not much
he could do, however, in the presence of two such great
naval powers. Similarly the United Provinces of the Neth­erlands
were unable to maintain their claims. Both the
British and the French preferred to see Tobago unoccu­pied
rather than settled by any one of these contestants.
These conditions encouraged the Spanish authorities to
watch more closely the strategically located island. Be­cause
of its proximity to the Spanish Main and Trinidad,
the Spanish authorities, too, preferred to see it unoccupied.
Some time in 1730 or in the early part of 1731 the Duke
of Courland, Ferdinand, finally decided to sell the island
of Tobago along with his rights to Sweden. He had given
up hope to regain this old Couronian colony and had
thought that Sweden might be interested to build a little
colonial empire after she had lost her Baltic territories.
Soon afterwards the British received the first warnings.
On May 5, 1731, the British Envoy Extraordinary at
Stockholm, Mr. Finch, reported to Lord Harrington that
there was a project in Sweden to carry on a trade directly
from Gothenburg to the West Indies, in order to buy raw
sugar and tobacco at first hand. Both sugar and tobacco
would be processed in Sweden. Mr. Finch also added that
a ship was actually bought for the purpose of this trade.
Great mystery enveloped this project, however. Mr.
Finch did not know where the Swedes intended to sail. He
had heard rumors that the destination was probably some
place in America which had formerly belonged to the
135
Dutch and had been given to the Prince of Hanau. As a
matter of fact, the place he referred to, was Tobago.10
The British were especially surprised when the Swedish
ambassador to Great Britain, Count Bonde, approached
the Secretary of State, Lord Harrington, on or shortly be­fore
August 11, 1731, and told him that the Swedish gov­ernment
"had their eyes" on the Island of Tobago as a set­tlement,
from which a trade in rum, sugar and tobacco
could be carried on with Gothenburg.11 The British were
reminded that this island had been granted by their King
Charles II to the Duke of Courland in 1664 and now the
present Duke of Courland, Ferdinand, was offering it to
the Swedish Crown for a certain sum of money. Count
Bonde asked Lord Harrington in a friendly manner
whether he knew any particulars relating to this island.
He said that he had already made inquiries at Uppsala to
see if anything can be found in Rymer's Foedera relating
to Tobago.12
On August 11, 1731, Lord Harrington informed the
Council of Trade and Plantations about the Swedish in­quiry.
It was true that Tobago had been "granted" by the
British to the Couronians on November 17, 1664, but at the
turn of the century the British had denied the Couronian
rights to Tobago as prejudical to the British interests. Any­body
knew, however, that this denial was as illegal as the
above-mentioned "grant" on November 17, 1664. With this
grant the British King had given something to the Couron­ians
that did not belong to him at that time and for this
"concession" he had taken away something else that did
not belong to the British—the Couronian West African
1 0 Great Britain, Public Record Office, Calendar of State Papers, Colonial
Series (further cited as Cal. C o l ) , 1731, London: H. M. Stationery Office,
No. 389, pp. 246-7; P.R.O., C O . , 388/30, v. 82; Frank Wesley Pitman, The
Development of the British West Indies, 1700-1763, New Haven: Yale Uni­versity
Press, 1917, 160 n.; Sir Alan Burns, History of the British West
Indies, London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1954, 457.
1 1 The writer regrets that he has not as yet been able to consult material in
Swedish archives. None of the Swedish histories available in this country
mentions any attempt on the part of Sweden to secure an island in the
West Indies at this time.
12 T.T.H.S., No. 786, quoting P.R.O., C O . , 388/30.
136
possessions—in "exchange!" If there was any power justi­fied
in contesting the claims of Courland it was the United
Provinces of the Netherlands. The Dutch, however, were
too weak after the War of the Spanish Succession.13
On August 28, 1731, Lord Harrington acquainted the
British Council with the letters from Mr. Finch, relating to
the offer made by the Duke of Courland to the Crown of
Sweden in connection with the sale of Tobago to the Swedes.
The members of the Council studied these letters and, on
August 31, gave directions for preparing a draft of repre­sentation
in support of the British title to' the island of To­bago
"against the pretensions of the Duke of Courland." In
the meantime, the former British Minister to Stockholm,
Mr. Jackson, was ordered to appear before the Council on
the morning of September 1 for consultations.14
There is further evidence that the Council of Trade and
Plantations had more discussions with Mr. Jackson on Sep­tember
21. Lord Harrington's letters of July 28 and Au­gust
28, 1731, had been discussed along with the draft of
the British representation in support of His Majesty's title
to the Island of Tobago. The draft was accepted and signed.
The King was informed as follows:
We beg leave to acquaint your Majesty that heretofore
the Dukes of Courland have had their pretensions upon
this island founded on a grant made to them by King
Charles II in 1664, under certain conditions and services
to be performed to the Crown of England; but on the
other hand, it appears from the ancient books of our Of­fice,
that the Dukes of Courland have not comply'd with
those stipulations . . . it appears to have been the opinion
of the Lords of the Privy Council, in that reign, and like­wise
of the Attorney General, that the original grant of
this island to the Dukes of Courland was void in law.
1 8 Anderson, The Couronians and the West Indies, 187-91, 197-202, 331-48;
Mattiesen, 444-5, passim, 983-5; Great Britain, Treaties, A Collection of All
the Treaties of Peace, Alliance, and Commerce, Between Great Britain and
Other Powers, . . . by The Right Hon. Charles Jenkinson (1st Earl of
Liverpool), London: J. Debrett, 1785, I, 183.
1 1 Great Britain, Board of Trade, Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations, Preserved in the Public .Record Office, Jan. 1728-9 to Dec. 1734
(further cited as J . C. T. P.), London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1928, 233.
137
We beg therefore to represent to your Majesty, that as
nothing has been transacted since this answer was made,
which can be of any force for the revival of the Duke of
Courland's title; it is to be hoped, his Swedish Majesty
will not give ear to any proposal that may be made for
the sale of Tobago to the Crown of Sweden which might
produce such consequences as would tend to weaken the
particular friendship which has so long subsisted between
Your Majesty's royal family, and that of His Swedish
Majesty, as the good understanding and harmony which
have been so happily cultivated of late years between the
Crowns of Great Britain and Sweden.
As far as the British were concerned, this matter was
dropped. If the British were unable to settle Tobago for
fear of getting involved in a war with France, no smaller
nations would be allowed to settle there.15
The Swedes apparently did not share this opinion. They
wanted to see what that contested part of the world looked
like and acted accordingly. For quite obvious reasons, how­ever,
their activities were enveloped in a cloud of secrecy
so that even up to the present day next to nothing is
known about the Swedish designs on Tobago and their ac­tivities
in the Southern Caribbean area and Guiana.16 There
are only some incomplete, fragmentary- and contradictory
Spanish and Dutch accounts. One can, however, reconstruct
certain episodes and feel the excitement in Spanish, Dutch
and British quarters about the arrival of a new contender
in the highly contested area.
On June 8, 1734, the Dutch commander of Essequibo (in
the Dutch Guiana) reported to the Dutch West India Com­pany,
that in March, 1732, a certain Swedish captain,
Laurens Brander, had arrived at Essequibo on the little
» J.C.T.P., 234; Cal. Col., No. 413, pp. 269-70; P.R.O., C O . , 29/15, ff. 233-6.
1 8 There is a curious Swedish book entitled Svenska minnen på utländska orter
of which there is a copy in the library of the Swedish Pioneer Historical
Society. Published in Stockholm in 1874 by the erratic publisher and col­lector
of curiosa, P. G. Berg, it is a dictionary of names of foreign places
having some connection with Swedish history. Under the entry Barima
(identified as one of the Caribbean islands) occurs this statement: "The
island was ceded to Sweden by the wild chief, and he adopted Swedish
clothing and showed great respect for the Swedish flag. It was the intention
(of the Swedes) to establish a colony there but the government did nothing
to aid the project and soon afterward the West India Company was dis­solved."
(p. 21).
138
ship Fortune of Gothenburg to get supplies and wood. At
that time rumor was spread among the Dutch that Cap­tain
Brander would return later in order to take posses­sion
of the area of River Barima, or, more exactly, a tract
of land in this area which had presumably been presented
by the King of Spain to the deceased Elector of Bavaria,
who had been the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
The Elector of Bavaria had later presented it to the King
of Sweden.17
The Spanish sources are less precise as far as the dates
are concerned, but they include more surprising informa­tion.
A report by the Spanish Council of the Indies to the
King of Spain, dated December 22, 1733, and the Royal
Orders to the Spanish Governor of Cumaná, Guayana and
Barcelona, dated March 13 and December 16, 1734, men­tioned,
in the first place, a letter of the President of the
Royal Court of the City of Santa Fé of the Vice Kingdom
of Grenada, Don Rafael de Oslaba, dated July 18, 1732,
about a representation made by Father Joseph Gumilla,
Superior of the Missions of the Orinoco, in respect to a
settlement which the Swedes had been attempting to make
at Barima some time before this report had been made,
and, in the second place, a letter of the Alcaldes of the
City of San José de Oruna, Captain of Trinidad and Guiana,
dated December 22, 1732, in which he had informed his
superiors about a report of the Spanish Lieutenant of the
Province of Guayana on Swedish attempts to make settle­ments
on the Island of Tobago as well as at Barima.
According to the report of Lieutenant of the Province
of Guayana the Swedes had already built houses, ploughed
land and established twenty-five families and a certain num­ber
of Africans on the Island of Tobago. If this report is
correct the Swedes had apparently arrived at Tobago in
February or March, 1732, on board the Fortune of G o t h e n -
n Great Britain, Parliament, Accounts and Papers, Vol. XXXXIX, State Papers,
Venezuela, United States, Egypt, Vol. XCVII, Venezuela No. 3 (1896), Fur­ther
Documents Relating to the Question of Boundary between British
Guiana and Venezuela, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1896, further cited
in British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela 3, No. 71,
p. 84.
130
burg on her way to Guiana. It is also possible that they
could have landed at the Great Courland Bay, near the
present-day Plymouth, which had been the center of the
Couronian rule in the past. If the settlement was ever
made the poor Swedish settlers apparently were killed by
the fierce, cannibalistic Carib Indians who considered To­bago
as their preserve. Twenty-five families is a small
number for a successful settlement in this area of wild
competition so far away from Sweden.
The rumors about a Swedish settlement on Tobago
greatly excited the inhabitants of the huge, sparsely popu­lated
neighboring island—Trinidad. The Alcaldes of the
capital city of Trinidad—San José de Oruna (the present
day St. Joseph), decided to send a vecino of the town, Don
Felix Cresel, to find out if these rumors were true. Cresel
had to get his information from the Indians living on the
northern coast of Trinidad, opposite Tobago. Don Felix,
afraid to sail directly to the northern coast, however,
coasted the southern side instead and finally reached Punta
Galera, north-eastern point of Trinidad. There he found
some Indians engaged in fishing. One of them, named An­tonio,
told Cresel that some Frenchmen had passed the
coast and had told him that they wished to make a settle­ment
on the island of Tobago. They had also told him that
there was already a small French colony on the northern
side of Tobago headed by a man from Martinique, named
Cornette. These Frenchmen had already established their
plantations employing no slaves. They had been waiting
for the results of their petition to the Court of France to
send more settlers to Tobago. Nothing was said about the
Swedes, however. These Frenchmen may have been tur­tlers,
but they may also have been pirates who had paid no
attention to the Franco-British agreement not to settle To­bago.
In that case the Swedish settlement was doomed from
the beginning.18
18 British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela 3, No. 10, p.
224, quoting Archive General des Indias, Seville, Spain, Audiencia of Ca­rácas,
133-3-16; T.T.H.S., No. 593, quoting the British Museum, Department
of Manuscripts, Additional MSS, No. 36333, both of them poorly translated.
140
The Alcaldes of San José de Oruna were not satisfied
with Don Felix Cresel's report and decided to send another
man, Juan Miguael Hernandez, on a fact-finding tour, this
time in order to verify the reports about a Swedish settle­ment
in Barima. Barima is a river which originates in the
British Guiana and empties in the Atlantic Ocean in Vene­zuelan
territory near the Grand Mouth of the great Orinoco
River and can be considered a tributary of the latter. The
mouth of the Barima River is not very far from both To­bago
and Trinidad. It seems that the Swedes had been
interested not only in Tobago as a possible ocean station
and springboard but also in getting a foot-hold on the Con­tinent
itself. The lower part of the Barima River is in a
swampy area with mangrove trees. The territory to the
west is sweeping in steep heavy folds and dimmishing in a
series of valleys. The area is covered by a rich tropical
rain forest. The original inhabitants of this1 area were War­rau
and Arawak Indians, but at the time when the Swedes
visited Barima the Caribs were starting to penetrate Ara­wak
territory. The Arawaks are relatively gentle and peace-loving,
but the same cannot be said about the Caribs; they
were the most belligerent and treacherous of people in the
West Indies and Guiana. Further up-stream the low man­grove
groves give way to tall trees firmly rooted on earthen
banks. At Mount Everard the broad, unimpeded water of
the river narrows, flowing between striated rocks. Here
the rapids and hidden rocks begin, and the navigation be­comes
difficult. The water is discolored with decaying vege­tation
of all sorts and the river lies in the shadow of tall
trees which often fall in the stream and make it almost
impassable. All the neighboring area is covered by jungle
vegetation.19 This is probably as far as the Swedes could
go in the spring of 1732.
It seems that even before Senor Hernandez was sent out
on a fact-finding mission the Court of the Vice Kingdom of
Grenada had already taken steps for the suppression of the
"Michael Swan, The Marches of El Dorado—British Guiana, Brazil, Vene­zuela,
Boston: Beacon Press, 1958, 56-79.
141
Swedish settlement some time before July, 1732. Hernan­dez
sailed out of the Orinoco River by the Grand Mouth
and entered Barima, where, according to the statements of
the Carib Indians, the Swedes were established. They testi­fied
that they had seen a number of white men and a large
schooner, searching for a convenient place on which to
settle. These white men had presented the Caribs with
knives, cutlasses, hatchets, beads, and strong alcoholic
drinks, with which the Indians had been very pleased.
These kindly white men had also told the Caribs (one
may wonder—in which language?) that they were plan­ning
to return in the dry season. If this was true, the
Swedes had planned to return in 1733, between January
and May. The same Caribs also told Hernandez that after­wards
two long boats had arrived with many Frenchmen
and Negro fugitives who wanted to reach Guiana. These
poor creatures had been all slain by the Indians who had
taken their boats and their personal effects.
The Indian chief of Barima was the son of the famous
Carib Captain Taguaria. He had 200 well armed men at
his disposal, equipped not only with swords and arrows but
also with guns and considerable supplies of ammunition.
They wanted to have revenge on the whites of Guiana for
having placed obstacles in their way when they were tak­ing
local Indians from Orinoco along in order to sell them
to the Dutch. The Caribs also informed the Spaniards that
the Dutch had instructed them not to allow the Swedes to
settle at Barima and not to show them any good place for
settlement whatever. For this service to the Dutch they
would be well rewarded.20 Both the Spaniards and the
Dutch were jealously guarding the territories they con­sidered
as their own "preserves."
On November 20, 1733, the Spanish Council of the Indies
submitted its report on the Swedish activities to the King
of Spain. The report stated that the news sent by the A l -
ao British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela No. 1, 64-5;
Venezuela No. 3, 224, quoting the Archivo de Indias, Seville, bundle 20;
T.T.H.S., No. 593, quoting Additional MSS. 36333.
142
caldes of Trinidad was presented in a "very informal way"
and the report was not drawn up in the manner it should
have been so that some decision could have been made.
Nevertheless it was not desirable to neglect this informa­tion
since the territory involved was far removed from any
places where prompt assistance could be given to prevent
foreigners from settling there. The Council was of the
opinion that the Governor (or Commandant) of the Prov­ince
of Carácas should be instructed to investigate this mat­ter
and find out the truth about the entire affair and, in
case it required action, to do all he might consider neces­sary.
21
The Spanish administrative machine moved extremely
slowly. It was not before March 13, 1734, when the King of
Spain issued his orders to the Governor of Cumaná, Guay­ana
and Barcelona to verify the previously mentioned facts
and, in case any orders should be necessary, to issue such
orders as he thought advisable, informing, his royal master
personally about his proceedings. The Governor was also
warned that the Governors of Carácas and Margarita had
received similar dispatches.22
A Dutch report, dated June 8, 1734, mentioned the fact
that the Spanish Governor of Orinoco had brought some
troops to Barima and expected ten or twelve barques with
more militiamen. The Spanish Governor had informed the
Dutch Commander of Essequibo that the Spanish troops
had been brought to Orinoco because the Swedish nation
had intended to found a colony at Barima, which was lying
between the Orinoco and the Dutch outpost at Wacque­pouw.
He had also tried to persuade the Dutch that they
should not tolerate in their neighborhood "so proud and
haughty a nation as the Swedes." The Spanish Command­er
had declared, in good faith and apparently open-heart­edly,
that this was the sole reason for his arrival with so
many troops at that place.
»T.T.H.S., No. 593, quoting Additional MSS., 36333.
22 British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela 3, p. 224.
143
The Dutch, however, were not so sure. They were wor­ried
about the real intentions of the Spaniards because
their forces were considerably weaker than the ones massed
in Orinoco area. On the other hand, if the Swedes would
actually undertake the settling of Barima the Dutch would
be obliged to frustrate such an attempt with "the few sol­diers"
they had at their disposal. The Dutch commander
added that this could "hardly be attended with any expec­tation
of success." He thought, however, that the proble­matic
Swedish schemes were used as a pretext for conceal­ing
the real aims of the Spaniards. Rumors were already
spread that the Spaniards were building forts and opening
mines in that area.23
On December 6, 1734, the King of Spain sent another
c e d u l a to the Governor of Cumaná ordering him to take
all proper measures in order to prevent any attempts of
the Swedish nation to establish a settlement at Barima. In
order to do this the Governor was allowed to make use of
all resources found in the Spanish settlements and Capu­chine
missions in that area. This royal order was about
two and a half years late.24
The Governor of Cumaná, Don Carlos Sucre, answered
only on August 13, 1737, almost three years after the royal
order was addressed to him. He reported to the King that
he had been involved in wars with the Caribs and had no
adequate means and resources to prevent possible Swedish
attempts at settlement. He went on by informing the king
that the Northern nations have begun to settle in the mouth
of Barima River and sundry families of Swedes were ex­pected
to come and settle in the Canon of Barima. He re­ported
that such a settlement would cause the loss of Car­ácas
and ultimate blocking of the road to Santa Fé de Bo­gotá.
25 It is quite obvious that the report was incorrect and
the situation was exaggerated in order to force the King to
2 3 Ibid., 85.
2 1 Ibid., 224-5.
20 Ibid., 225-6.
144
pay more attention to that part of the world and to provide
it with more adequate means for the defense.
It is difficult to say how much of the information about
the Swedish activities in Tobago and Barima corresponds
to truth and how much of it belongs to the sphere of imag­ination.
Only the Swedish records, if there are any, may
reveal more information about the mysterious Swedish set­tlement
at Tobago and their designs in Barima. It is clear,
however, that Duke Ferdinand of Courland had been in­terested
to sell the island of Tobago to the Swedes, that the
Swedes had organized a company at Gothenburg to trade
with the West Indies and that the British had tried to in­timidate
them. It is also clear that a Swedish ship, the
Fortune of Gothenburg, had been in the Caribbean area
and had visited Barima. Both the Spaniards and the Dutch
revealed that they had been highly excited about the ap­pearance
of the Swedes in the areas which they had con­sidered
as their own preserves. It is also clear that at that
time neither the British, nor the Spaniards and the Dutch
had adequate means for preventing the Swedes to settle at
the chosen places. For some reasons, however, the Swedes
abandoned their project. Both Tobago and Barima were
well chosen places, strategically as well as tactically. Both
of them were no-man's lands, hotly contested but un­occupied.
They could also supplement each other. The
Swedish attempts to settle Tobago and Barima in 1731 and
1732 were their first attempts of this kind in the West Indies.
145

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

All rights held by the Swedish-American Historical Society. No part of this publication, except in the case of brief quotations, may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the editor and, where appropriate, the original author(s). For more information, please email the Society at info@swedishamericanhist.org

MYSTERIOUS EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
SWEDISH SETTLEMENTS AT TOBAGO
AND BARIMA
EDGAR ANDERSON
In recent years the small, but very fertile and incredibly
beautiful West Indian island—Tobago—has been in the
limelight as a point of attraction for tourists, movie makers
and historians.1 In the summer of 1960 an international ex­pedition,
sponsored by the Government of Trinidad and
Tobago and headed by the author of this article, attempted
to take an inventory of historic and prehistoric sites, sur­viving
historical relics and preserved historical records. It
was not an easy undertaking because the Island of To­bago
has changed hands more often than any other West
Indian island. After the Indian tribes—Ciboneys, Arawaks
and Caribs—replaced each other on the island, it has been
ruled successively and sometimes simultaneously by the
Spaniards, the Dutch, the Couronians (from Latvia), the
English, the French, and finally the West Indians themselves.
The records indicate that even the Brandenburgers or Prus­sians
and the Swedes had been interested in this island
and made plans for its colonization.
One of the reasons for this unusual interest in Tobago
was the advantageous geographical location of the island
in the Atlantic ocean and its proximity to the mainland of
South America. Its climatic conditions are better than
those of any other Caribbean island. It is more fertile and
it has also served as an excellent base for sailors and trad­ers.
The total area of Tobago and its neighboring islets com­prises
approximately 116 square miles. The island is about
1 Among recent popular descriptions of the island are: Crusoe's Island in the
Caribbean by Heath Bowman and Jefferson Bowman, New York, The Bobbs-
Merrill Co., 1939; Behold the West Indies by Amy Oakley, New York, D.
Appleton-Century Co., Inc., 1941 (Chapter XIV, "Tobago," pp. 409-426);
The French in the West Indies by W. Adolphe Roberts, New York, The
Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1942 (Chapter XI, "Battledore and Shuttlecock," pp.
117-125).
131
twenty-seven and a half miles long and seven and a half
miles wide at its greatest breadth. Most of the island is
hilly. The mountains in the northern part rise to a height
of 1950 feet. The central part of Tobago is undulating with
small valleys and conical hills, but the southern part is a
flat coral formation. Most of the island is covered with
dense forests. The soil is fertile and easily cultivated. The
chief p r o d u c t s are coconut, copra, coffee, cocoa, citrus
fruits, lumber, dyes, and also rum, sugar, cotton, and to­bacco.
In the past Tobago was famous for its indigo and
attempts were even made to produce rubber. The island
is also out of the usual range of hurricanes.
For a number of years Tobago was ruled by the rich
and vigorous Dukes of Courland, who ruled not only the
western part of Latvia, but also settlements in West Afri­ca
(Gambia), and iron mining areas and an ocean station
in Norway (Eidsvold, Kongsberg, Fleker). Besides To­bago
they also claimed several other West Indian islands,
and were engaged in trade relations even with such far­away
places as Brazil.2
Because of the proximity of Courland to Sweden and
the high standard of Swedish seamanship a considerable
number of Swedish sailors and soldiers were employed by
the Dukes of Courland, evidence of which is preserved in
Couronian ship log-books and payroll sheets. There are
also records that some of these Swedish sailors and sol­diers
were sent to the Couronian colony of Tobago. It is
known that a number of Swedes were on board Das W a p ­p
e n der Herzogin von Kurland, commanded by a Dutch
captain, Willem Mollens, Jr., who planted the first regular
Couronian colony in the West Indies on May 20, 1654.8
8 Edgar Anderson, "The Couronians and the West Indies—the First Settle­ment,"
Caribbean Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4 (June 1959) 264-5; Walter Eckert,
Kurland unter dem Einfluss des Merkantilismus, Riga: Verlag G. Löffler,
1927, 137; Jekabs Juskevics, Hercoga Jekaba laikmets Kurzeme, Riga:
Valstspapiru spiestuves izdevums, 1931, 164-82, 265, 586, 637; Otto Heinz
Mattiesen, Die Kolonial- und U b e r s e e p o l i t i k der kurländischen Herzöge im
17. und 18. Jhd., Berlin & Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1940, 28, 37.
* Edgar Anderson, "The Couronians and the West Indies," Doctoral Disserta­tion,
University of Chicago, 1956, 108; Mattiesen, 242-3, 246-7, 251-2, 381,
443, 465.
132
The crew of the second Couronian ship, the Constantia,
dispatched to Tobago in 1655, also contained some Swed­ish
sailors.4 Many other Couronian ships had Swedish sail­ors
and soldiers on board. The Couronian captain, Hans
Jurgens Waltmann, of the ill-fated expedition of D e r I s s ­landfahrer,
had hired some forty soldiers at Gotland in the
winter of 1668 for a trip to Tobago. The names of many
sailors on this ship indicate Scandinavian origin.5
In the 1680's the Couronians of Tobago maintained close
and friendly relations with the Danish West Indies where
they had found refuge in times of peril. The Danes were
often chosen by the Dukes of Courland to occupy high ad­ministrative
positions in their colonial administration.8
The hard-pressed Couronians were unable to maintain
their colonial possessions, however, and were forced to
abandon Tobago in 1690 although some of the Couronian
settlers remained on the island for a few more years. This
did not mean, however, that they were surrendering their
claims to the island. In the meantime several more pre­tenders
to Tobago had tried their luck in settling the is­land,
more or less unsuccessfully, and contested the titles
of one another.7
Being unable to agree among themselves, they left the
island unoccupied except for a few individual settlers who
did not care about national jurisdiction of any country. For
a while the island even became a place of refuge for the
buccaneers and filibusters of the Caribbean area. The fam­ous
English writer Daniel Defoe used Tobago in 1718 as a
prototype for the island on which he settled his castaway
character Robinson Crusoe. Those who know the island
4 Anderson, Couronians and the West Indies, 123-4; Duke of Courland, Print­ing
Office, Briefve deduction par laquelle il est clairement monstré que
I'isle de Tabago sise en l ' A m e r i q e appartient à Monseigneur le Duc de
Courlande . . ., Mittav: Michel Karnall, 1668, par. 7.
" Briefve deduction, 15-6; Mattiesen, 615-22; August Seraphim, "Misslungene
Seefahrten nach Westindien," Baltische Monatshefte, XXXVII, No. 4 (1890),
615-22.
* Anderson, Couronians and the West Indies, 286, 322-3; Juskevics, 160-1, and
passim.
7 Anderson, Couronians and the West Indies, 319-22.
133
and read Defoe's book carefully are in agreement with this
theory.8
In 1730, Tobago was still a no-man's land. On Novem­ber
26 of that year the British Council of Trade and Plan­tations
reported to the Secretary of State, Duke of New­castle,
that the French Keeper of the Seals (Monsieur le
Garde des Sceaux) had informed the British representa­tive
Lord Waldgrave that the French Government had
Map showing location of the island of Tobago
and its proximity to t h e island of Trinidad
and the coast of Venezuela and British Guiana
agreed to the mutual evacuation of the West Indian islands
of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica, but had also in­sisted
on equal evacuation of Santa Cruz and had express­ly
forbidden the British subjects to settle on the island of
Tobago. The French had also demanded that the British
should re-examine their claim to this island. Notwith­standing
the fact that the British had not settled Tobago
the French demands were unacceptable to them.9
8 Evan M. Wylie, "Is This Robinson Crusoe's Island?" The Saturday Evening
Post, Vol. 224, No. 51 (June 21, 1952) 32, 106-7, 109, 111.
9 Trinidad and Tobago, Historical • Society of Trinidad and Tobago, Publica­tions
Nos. 1-1000 (further cited as T.T.H.S.), edited by Gertrude Carmichael,
Port-of-Spain, Trinidad: Historical Society of Trinidad and Tobago, (n.d.)
No. 785, quoting Great Britain, Public .Record Office, State Pavers, Colonial
Series (further cited as P.R.O., C O . ) CO. 152/40.
134
The anonymous author of the pamphlet The Importance
of the British Plantations in A m e r i c a t o this K i n g d o m , &
etc,. Considered wrote in 1731 as follows: "If the island of
Tobago justly belongs to the Kingdom (as he is informed
it does), it is surprising it hath not been settled by us;
since, though not quite so large as Barbadoes, it is superior
to it for good roads, convenient rivers, and richness of soil."
Great Britain and France continued their quarrels re­garding
their titles to the island, while the Duke of Cour­land
still insisted on his rights to it. There was not much
he could do, however, in the presence of two such great
naval powers. Similarly the United Provinces of the Neth­erlands
were unable to maintain their claims. Both the
British and the French preferred to see Tobago unoccu­pied
rather than settled by any one of these contestants.
These conditions encouraged the Spanish authorities to
watch more closely the strategically located island. Be­cause
of its proximity to the Spanish Main and Trinidad,
the Spanish authorities, too, preferred to see it unoccupied.
Some time in 1730 or in the early part of 1731 the Duke
of Courland, Ferdinand, finally decided to sell the island
of Tobago along with his rights to Sweden. He had given
up hope to regain this old Couronian colony and had
thought that Sweden might be interested to build a little
colonial empire after she had lost her Baltic territories.
Soon afterwards the British received the first warnings.
On May 5, 1731, the British Envoy Extraordinary at
Stockholm, Mr. Finch, reported to Lord Harrington that
there was a project in Sweden to carry on a trade directly
from Gothenburg to the West Indies, in order to buy raw
sugar and tobacco at first hand. Both sugar and tobacco
would be processed in Sweden. Mr. Finch also added that
a ship was actually bought for the purpose of this trade.
Great mystery enveloped this project, however. Mr.
Finch did not know where the Swedes intended to sail. He
had heard rumors that the destination was probably some
place in America which had formerly belonged to the
135
Dutch and had been given to the Prince of Hanau. As a
matter of fact, the place he referred to, was Tobago.10
The British were especially surprised when the Swedish
ambassador to Great Britain, Count Bonde, approached
the Secretary of State, Lord Harrington, on or shortly be­fore
August 11, 1731, and told him that the Swedish gov­ernment
"had their eyes" on the Island of Tobago as a set­tlement,
from which a trade in rum, sugar and tobacco
could be carried on with Gothenburg.11 The British were
reminded that this island had been granted by their King
Charles II to the Duke of Courland in 1664 and now the
present Duke of Courland, Ferdinand, was offering it to
the Swedish Crown for a certain sum of money. Count
Bonde asked Lord Harrington in a friendly manner
whether he knew any particulars relating to this island.
He said that he had already made inquiries at Uppsala to
see if anything can be found in Rymer's Foedera relating
to Tobago.12
On August 11, 1731, Lord Harrington informed the
Council of Trade and Plantations about the Swedish in­quiry.
It was true that Tobago had been "granted" by the
British to the Couronians on November 17, 1664, but at the
turn of the century the British had denied the Couronian
rights to Tobago as prejudical to the British interests. Any­body
knew, however, that this denial was as illegal as the
above-mentioned "grant" on November 17, 1664. With this
grant the British King had given something to the Couron­ians
that did not belong to him at that time and for this
"concession" he had taken away something else that did
not belong to the British—the Couronian West African
1 0 Great Britain, Public Record Office, Calendar of State Papers, Colonial
Series (further cited as Cal. C o l ) , 1731, London: H. M. Stationery Office,
No. 389, pp. 246-7; P.R.O., C O . , 388/30, v. 82; Frank Wesley Pitman, The
Development of the British West Indies, 1700-1763, New Haven: Yale Uni­versity
Press, 1917, 160 n.; Sir Alan Burns, History of the British West
Indies, London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1954, 457.
1 1 The writer regrets that he has not as yet been able to consult material in
Swedish archives. None of the Swedish histories available in this country
mentions any attempt on the part of Sweden to secure an island in the
West Indies at this time.
12 T.T.H.S., No. 786, quoting P.R.O., C O . , 388/30.
136
possessions—in "exchange!" If there was any power justi­fied
in contesting the claims of Courland it was the United
Provinces of the Netherlands. The Dutch, however, were
too weak after the War of the Spanish Succession.13
On August 28, 1731, Lord Harrington acquainted the
British Council with the letters from Mr. Finch, relating to
the offer made by the Duke of Courland to the Crown of
Sweden in connection with the sale of Tobago to the Swedes.
The members of the Council studied these letters and, on
August 31, gave directions for preparing a draft of repre­sentation
in support of the British title to' the island of To­bago
"against the pretensions of the Duke of Courland." In
the meantime, the former British Minister to Stockholm,
Mr. Jackson, was ordered to appear before the Council on
the morning of September 1 for consultations.14
There is further evidence that the Council of Trade and
Plantations had more discussions with Mr. Jackson on Sep­tember
21. Lord Harrington's letters of July 28 and Au­gust
28, 1731, had been discussed along with the draft of
the British representation in support of His Majesty's title
to the Island of Tobago. The draft was accepted and signed.
The King was informed as follows:
We beg leave to acquaint your Majesty that heretofore
the Dukes of Courland have had their pretensions upon
this island founded on a grant made to them by King
Charles II in 1664, under certain conditions and services
to be performed to the Crown of England; but on the
other hand, it appears from the ancient books of our Of­fice,
that the Dukes of Courland have not comply'd with
those stipulations . . . it appears to have been the opinion
of the Lords of the Privy Council, in that reign, and like­wise
of the Attorney General, that the original grant of
this island to the Dukes of Courland was void in law.
1 8 Anderson, The Couronians and the West Indies, 187-91, 197-202, 331-48;
Mattiesen, 444-5, passim, 983-5; Great Britain, Treaties, A Collection of All
the Treaties of Peace, Alliance, and Commerce, Between Great Britain and
Other Powers, . . . by The Right Hon. Charles Jenkinson (1st Earl of
Liverpool), London: J. Debrett, 1785, I, 183.
1 1 Great Britain, Board of Trade, Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations, Preserved in the Public .Record Office, Jan. 1728-9 to Dec. 1734
(further cited as J . C. T. P.), London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1928, 233.
137
We beg therefore to represent to your Majesty, that as
nothing has been transacted since this answer was made,
which can be of any force for the revival of the Duke of
Courland's title; it is to be hoped, his Swedish Majesty
will not give ear to any proposal that may be made for
the sale of Tobago to the Crown of Sweden which might
produce such consequences as would tend to weaken the
particular friendship which has so long subsisted between
Your Majesty's royal family, and that of His Swedish
Majesty, as the good understanding and harmony which
have been so happily cultivated of late years between the
Crowns of Great Britain and Sweden.
As far as the British were concerned, this matter was
dropped. If the British were unable to settle Tobago for
fear of getting involved in a war with France, no smaller
nations would be allowed to settle there.15
The Swedes apparently did not share this opinion. They
wanted to see what that contested part of the world looked
like and acted accordingly. For quite obvious reasons, how­ever,
their activities were enveloped in a cloud of secrecy
so that even up to the present day next to nothing is
known about the Swedish designs on Tobago and their ac­tivities
in the Southern Caribbean area and Guiana.16 There
are only some incomplete, fragmentary- and contradictory
Spanish and Dutch accounts. One can, however, reconstruct
certain episodes and feel the excitement in Spanish, Dutch
and British quarters about the arrival of a new contender
in the highly contested area.
On June 8, 1734, the Dutch commander of Essequibo (in
the Dutch Guiana) reported to the Dutch West India Com­pany,
that in March, 1732, a certain Swedish captain,
Laurens Brander, had arrived at Essequibo on the little
» J.C.T.P., 234; Cal. Col., No. 413, pp. 269-70; P.R.O., C O . , 29/15, ff. 233-6.
1 8 There is a curious Swedish book entitled Svenska minnen på utländska orter
of which there is a copy in the library of the Swedish Pioneer Historical
Society. Published in Stockholm in 1874 by the erratic publisher and col­lector
of curiosa, P. G. Berg, it is a dictionary of names of foreign places
having some connection with Swedish history. Under the entry Barima
(identified as one of the Caribbean islands) occurs this statement: "The
island was ceded to Sweden by the wild chief, and he adopted Swedish
clothing and showed great respect for the Swedish flag. It was the intention
(of the Swedes) to establish a colony there but the government did nothing
to aid the project and soon afterward the West India Company was dis­solved."
(p. 21).
138
ship Fortune of Gothenburg to get supplies and wood. At
that time rumor was spread among the Dutch that Cap­tain
Brander would return later in order to take posses­sion
of the area of River Barima, or, more exactly, a tract
of land in this area which had presumably been presented
by the King of Spain to the deceased Elector of Bavaria,
who had been the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
The Elector of Bavaria had later presented it to the King
of Sweden.17
The Spanish sources are less precise as far as the dates
are concerned, but they include more surprising informa­tion.
A report by the Spanish Council of the Indies to the
King of Spain, dated December 22, 1733, and the Royal
Orders to the Spanish Governor of Cumaná, Guayana and
Barcelona, dated March 13 and December 16, 1734, men­tioned,
in the first place, a letter of the President of the
Royal Court of the City of Santa Fé of the Vice Kingdom
of Grenada, Don Rafael de Oslaba, dated July 18, 1732,
about a representation made by Father Joseph Gumilla,
Superior of the Missions of the Orinoco, in respect to a
settlement which the Swedes had been attempting to make
at Barima some time before this report had been made,
and, in the second place, a letter of the Alcaldes of the
City of San José de Oruna, Captain of Trinidad and Guiana,
dated December 22, 1732, in which he had informed his
superiors about a report of the Spanish Lieutenant of the
Province of Guayana on Swedish attempts to make settle­ments
on the Island of Tobago as well as at Barima.
According to the report of Lieutenant of the Province
of Guayana the Swedes had already built houses, ploughed
land and established twenty-five families and a certain num­ber
of Africans on the Island of Tobago. If this report is
correct the Swedes had apparently arrived at Tobago in
February or March, 1732, on board the Fortune of G o t h e n -
n Great Britain, Parliament, Accounts and Papers, Vol. XXXXIX, State Papers,
Venezuela, United States, Egypt, Vol. XCVII, Venezuela No. 3 (1896), Fur­ther
Documents Relating to the Question of Boundary between British
Guiana and Venezuela, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1896, further cited
in British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela 3, No. 71,
p. 84.
130
burg on her way to Guiana. It is also possible that they
could have landed at the Great Courland Bay, near the
present-day Plymouth, which had been the center of the
Couronian rule in the past. If the settlement was ever
made the poor Swedish settlers apparently were killed by
the fierce, cannibalistic Carib Indians who considered To­bago
as their preserve. Twenty-five families is a small
number for a successful settlement in this area of wild
competition so far away from Sweden.
The rumors about a Swedish settlement on Tobago
greatly excited the inhabitants of the huge, sparsely popu­lated
neighboring island—Trinidad. The Alcaldes of the
capital city of Trinidad—San José de Oruna (the present
day St. Joseph), decided to send a vecino of the town, Don
Felix Cresel, to find out if these rumors were true. Cresel
had to get his information from the Indians living on the
northern coast of Trinidad, opposite Tobago. Don Felix,
afraid to sail directly to the northern coast, however,
coasted the southern side instead and finally reached Punta
Galera, north-eastern point of Trinidad. There he found
some Indians engaged in fishing. One of them, named An­tonio,
told Cresel that some Frenchmen had passed the
coast and had told him that they wished to make a settle­ment
on the island of Tobago. They had also told him that
there was already a small French colony on the northern
side of Tobago headed by a man from Martinique, named
Cornette. These Frenchmen had already established their
plantations employing no slaves. They had been waiting
for the results of their petition to the Court of France to
send more settlers to Tobago. Nothing was said about the
Swedes, however. These Frenchmen may have been tur­tlers,
but they may also have been pirates who had paid no
attention to the Franco-British agreement not to settle To­bago.
In that case the Swedish settlement was doomed from
the beginning.18
18 British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela 3, No. 10, p.
224, quoting Archive General des Indias, Seville, Spain, Audiencia of Ca­rácas,
133-3-16; T.T.H.S., No. 593, quoting the British Museum, Department
of Manuscripts, Additional MSS, No. 36333, both of them poorly translated.
140
The Alcaldes of San José de Oruna were not satisfied
with Don Felix Cresel's report and decided to send another
man, Juan Miguael Hernandez, on a fact-finding tour, this
time in order to verify the reports about a Swedish settle­ment
in Barima. Barima is a river which originates in the
British Guiana and empties in the Atlantic Ocean in Vene­zuelan
territory near the Grand Mouth of the great Orinoco
River and can be considered a tributary of the latter. The
mouth of the Barima River is not very far from both To­bago
and Trinidad. It seems that the Swedes had been
interested not only in Tobago as a possible ocean station
and springboard but also in getting a foot-hold on the Con­tinent
itself. The lower part of the Barima River is in a
swampy area with mangrove trees. The territory to the
west is sweeping in steep heavy folds and dimmishing in a
series of valleys. The area is covered by a rich tropical
rain forest. The original inhabitants of this1 area were War­rau
and Arawak Indians, but at the time when the Swedes
visited Barima the Caribs were starting to penetrate Ara­wak
territory. The Arawaks are relatively gentle and peace-loving,
but the same cannot be said about the Caribs; they
were the most belligerent and treacherous of people in the
West Indies and Guiana. Further up-stream the low man­grove
groves give way to tall trees firmly rooted on earthen
banks. At Mount Everard the broad, unimpeded water of
the river narrows, flowing between striated rocks. Here
the rapids and hidden rocks begin, and the navigation be­comes
difficult. The water is discolored with decaying vege­tation
of all sorts and the river lies in the shadow of tall
trees which often fall in the stream and make it almost
impassable. All the neighboring area is covered by jungle
vegetation.19 This is probably as far as the Swedes could
go in the spring of 1732.
It seems that even before Senor Hernandez was sent out
on a fact-finding mission the Court of the Vice Kingdom of
Grenada had already taken steps for the suppression of the
"Michael Swan, The Marches of El Dorado—British Guiana, Brazil, Vene­zuela,
Boston: Beacon Press, 1958, 56-79.
141
Swedish settlement some time before July, 1732. Hernan­dez
sailed out of the Orinoco River by the Grand Mouth
and entered Barima, where, according to the statements of
the Carib Indians, the Swedes were established. They testi­fied
that they had seen a number of white men and a large
schooner, searching for a convenient place on which to
settle. These white men had presented the Caribs with
knives, cutlasses, hatchets, beads, and strong alcoholic
drinks, with which the Indians had been very pleased.
These kindly white men had also told the Caribs (one
may wonder—in which language?) that they were plan­ning
to return in the dry season. If this was true, the
Swedes had planned to return in 1733, between January
and May. The same Caribs also told Hernandez that after­wards
two long boats had arrived with many Frenchmen
and Negro fugitives who wanted to reach Guiana. These
poor creatures had been all slain by the Indians who had
taken their boats and their personal effects.
The Indian chief of Barima was the son of the famous
Carib Captain Taguaria. He had 200 well armed men at
his disposal, equipped not only with swords and arrows but
also with guns and considerable supplies of ammunition.
They wanted to have revenge on the whites of Guiana for
having placed obstacles in their way when they were tak­ing
local Indians from Orinoco along in order to sell them
to the Dutch. The Caribs also informed the Spaniards that
the Dutch had instructed them not to allow the Swedes to
settle at Barima and not to show them any good place for
settlement whatever. For this service to the Dutch they
would be well rewarded.20 Both the Spaniards and the
Dutch were jealously guarding the territories they con­sidered
as their own "preserves."
On November 20, 1733, the Spanish Council of the Indies
submitted its report on the Swedish activities to the King
of Spain. The report stated that the news sent by the A l -
ao British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela No. 1, 64-5;
Venezuela No. 3, 224, quoting the Archivo de Indias, Seville, bundle 20;
T.T.H.S., No. 593, quoting Additional MSS. 36333.
142
caldes of Trinidad was presented in a "very informal way"
and the report was not drawn up in the manner it should
have been so that some decision could have been made.
Nevertheless it was not desirable to neglect this informa­tion
since the territory involved was far removed from any
places where prompt assistance could be given to prevent
foreigners from settling there. The Council was of the
opinion that the Governor (or Commandant) of the Prov­ince
of Carácas should be instructed to investigate this mat­ter
and find out the truth about the entire affair and, in
case it required action, to do all he might consider neces­sary.
21
The Spanish administrative machine moved extremely
slowly. It was not before March 13, 1734, when the King of
Spain issued his orders to the Governor of Cumaná, Guay­ana
and Barcelona to verify the previously mentioned facts
and, in case any orders should be necessary, to issue such
orders as he thought advisable, informing, his royal master
personally about his proceedings. The Governor was also
warned that the Governors of Carácas and Margarita had
received similar dispatches.22
A Dutch report, dated June 8, 1734, mentioned the fact
that the Spanish Governor of Orinoco had brought some
troops to Barima and expected ten or twelve barques with
more militiamen. The Spanish Governor had informed the
Dutch Commander of Essequibo that the Spanish troops
had been brought to Orinoco because the Swedish nation
had intended to found a colony at Barima, which was lying
between the Orinoco and the Dutch outpost at Wacque­pouw.
He had also tried to persuade the Dutch that they
should not tolerate in their neighborhood "so proud and
haughty a nation as the Swedes." The Spanish Command­er
had declared, in good faith and apparently open-heart­edly,
that this was the sole reason for his arrival with so
many troops at that place.
»T.T.H.S., No. 593, quoting Additional MSS., 36333.
22 British-Venezuelan Boundary Dispute, British Case, Venezuela 3, p. 224.
143
The Dutch, however, were not so sure. They were wor­ried
about the real intentions of the Spaniards because
their forces were considerably weaker than the ones massed
in Orinoco area. On the other hand, if the Swedes would
actually undertake the settling of Barima the Dutch would
be obliged to frustrate such an attempt with "the few sol­diers"
they had at their disposal. The Dutch commander
added that this could "hardly be attended with any expec­tation
of success." He thought, however, that the proble­matic
Swedish schemes were used as a pretext for conceal­ing
the real aims of the Spaniards. Rumors were already
spread that the Spaniards were building forts and opening
mines in that area.23
On December 6, 1734, the King of Spain sent another
c e d u l a to the Governor of Cumaná ordering him to take
all proper measures in order to prevent any attempts of
the Swedish nation to establish a settlement at Barima. In
order to do this the Governor was allowed to make use of
all resources found in the Spanish settlements and Capu­chine
missions in that area. This royal order was about
two and a half years late.24
The Governor of Cumaná, Don Carlos Sucre, answered
only on August 13, 1737, almost three years after the royal
order was addressed to him. He reported to the King that
he had been involved in wars with the Caribs and had no
adequate means and resources to prevent possible Swedish
attempts at settlement. He went on by informing the king
that the Northern nations have begun to settle in the mouth
of Barima River and sundry families of Swedes were ex­pected
to come and settle in the Canon of Barima. He re­ported
that such a settlement would cause the loss of Car­ácas
and ultimate blocking of the road to Santa Fé de Bo­gotá.
25 It is quite obvious that the report was incorrect and
the situation was exaggerated in order to force the King to
2 3 Ibid., 85.
2 1 Ibid., 224-5.
20 Ibid., 225-6.
144
pay more attention to that part of the world and to provide
it with more adequate means for the defense.
It is difficult to say how much of the information about
the Swedish activities in Tobago and Barima corresponds
to truth and how much of it belongs to the sphere of imag­ination.
Only the Swedish records, if there are any, may
reveal more information about the mysterious Swedish set­tlement
at Tobago and their designs in Barima. It is clear,
however, that Duke Ferdinand of Courland had been in­terested
to sell the island of Tobago to the Swedes, that the
Swedes had organized a company at Gothenburg to trade
with the West Indies and that the British had tried to in­timidate
them. It is also clear that a Swedish ship, the
Fortune of Gothenburg, had been in the Caribbean area
and had visited Barima. Both the Spaniards and the Dutch
revealed that they had been highly excited about the ap­pearance
of the Swedes in the areas which they had con­sidered
as their own preserves. It is also clear that at that
time neither the British, nor the Spaniards and the Dutch
had adequate means for preventing the Swedes to settle at
the chosen places. For some reasons, however, the Swedes
abandoned their project. Both Tobago and Barima were
well chosen places, strategically as well as tactically. Both
of them were no-man's lands, hotly contested but un­occupied.
They could also supplement each other. The
Swedish attempts to settle Tobago and Barima in 1731 and
1732 were their first attempts of this kind in the West Indies.
145